Mobile App for Prenatal Care to Reduce Visits and Improve Satisfaction Study

Effectiveness of a Mobile App for Prenatal Care to Safely Reduce In-Person Visits and Improve Patient Satisfaction: Study Protocol for a Multicenter Prospective Quasi-Randomized Trial

Prenatal care is defined as preventive healthcare characterized by regular check-ups by doctors or midwives to treat and prevent potential health problems throughout the course of the pregnancy. The investigators propose that a mobile app for prenatal care has the potential to provide patient-tailored, risk-appropriate prenatal educational content and may facilitate vital sign and weight checks between visits. The investigators describe the methods used to develop and test the effectiveness of a mobile app for prenatal care to safely reduce the number of in-person visits to the obstetrician (OB) compared to standard of care.

This is a protocol for a multi-center quasi-randomized controlled trial to compare an intervention group receiving a prenatal care app, to a control group receiving usual care. The trial is being conducted at two diverse outpatient obstetric practices that are part of a single academic department of obstetrics in Washington, DC. Women who are between 18 and 40, who are visiting their OB for a first trimester routine visit, who have a confirmed desired pregnancy, who are not considered "high-risk," and who have an IOS, Android or Windows-based smart phone that they use regularly will be eligible for enrollment. The Investigators will measure the effect of a mobile app for prenatal care on:

1. the number of in-person OB visits during pregnancy;
2. patient satisfaction with prenatal care;
3. gestational weight gain;
4. maternal and fetal outcomes; and
5. clinician satisfaction.

To capture these outcomes, the investigators will administer patient surveys via telephone every 4 weeks during gestation and the immediate post-partum period, review the electronic medical record, and conduct in-depth interviews with a representative subset of patients after delivery.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Eligible participants will be women who are between 18 than 40-years-old, who are visiting the OB for a first-trimester verification of pregnancy visit, new OB visit or follow-up OB visit, who are low-risk per treating OB, who regularly use a smart-phone, who can understand and consent to English-written consent form.
• Eligible clinicians will be attending obstetric physicians who refer the patient to the research assistant for informed consent and full eligibility assessment.

Exclusion Criteria:

• High-risk obstetrical condition*
• Intends midwifery care
• Intends to terminate
• Not Local resident
• Non--English speaker